Charlie Harvey

Tip: Latest Chromium Browser on Debian Squeeze

Update 2013-02-15 Since this article was written the PPA I list has got frozen at version 18 of chromium. If you want something newer and shinier, you should replace the sources.list line with deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/a-v-shkop/chromium/ubuntu lucid main and replace the apt-key command with sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 97D30C5333B8AFB6


The version of Chromium browser in the Squeeze repositories is pretty outdated and lacking in some functionality that nor needed for a project she was working on (its a plugin that fades the page based on the number of hops on a traceroute). I wasn't keen to compile it myself. So first I spent a fruitless 20 minutes searching for a backport. It didn't seem to exist. What does exist is an Ubuntu Chromium Daily Builds Repository . So this is just how to use that to get a daily build of Chromium on your Squeeze machine.

screenshot of chrome 17 daily build running on debia squeeze
What a great site to test a browser on

From the commandline

I tend to do things from the commandline. Because that's just how I roll! So edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list adding this linedeb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu lucid main Yes that is a Lucid repo. Any later ones will require libraries that aren't at the right versions on Squeeze.

Now you'll need the GPG key from their keyserver apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 4E5E17B5

Now you can update your sources, and install the daily build of Chromium. You'll want to close any running Chromium windows and then dosudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade chromium-browser

The "Easy" way, with Synaptic

In this case the GUI is harder to use than the good old terminal! First launch synaptic. Then go to settings | Repositories | Third party software. Click add and use the following apt line deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu lucid main

Next you need to get the GPG key for this repository. That key is 0x4e5e17b5 on the Ubuntu key server. Copy everything from "-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" to "-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----" including the ---s and paste into a file on your desktop called temp-key or something.

Now, in Synaptic, go Settings | Repositories | Authentication. You want to Import Key File and open the file you made in the last step. Once that is done you should see Launchpad PPA for chromium daily in the list of keys you’ve got.

Now you can update and install chromium. Click Reload, wait for it to do that. Then type chromium-browser into quick search and you should see an upgradeable chromium browser. Click and mark for upgrade. This will uninstal the inspector component (its part of the core in the Ubuntu version, so no big problem there). Finally you should click the big green tick AKA apply and after some bimbling along you should have a shiny new chromium. w00t! As I believe it is customary to exclaim on these occasions.


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